Almost two years since a failed intercept during a flight
test, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system completed a successful fly-out
mission last weekend, according to officials with Boeing.

The non-intercept test was held last Sunday at Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California and included the launch of a GMD ground-based
interceptor carrying a next-generation Enhanced Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or
EKV. The test measured the EKV's performance as to the vehicle during stressful
space conditions.

"(The) test signals the next step in GMD's future
capability and is the culmination of successful partnerships among government,
military leaders and industry," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general
manager for Boeing Strategic Missile and Defense Systems. "Throughout our
team effort to solve one of the toughest challenges facing the aerospace
industry, GMD remained on alert and continues to defend the United
States."

The data from the test will be used to assess the EKV's
design as well. Produced by Raytheon, the EKV allows the GMD to lock on and eliminate
high-speed ballistic missile warheads in space using force of impact.

"Rigorous non-intercept flight tests are important in
proving the effectiveness and operational capability of ballistic missile
defense weapons and their various components," said Wes Kremer, Raytheon
Missile Systems' vice president of Air and Missile Defense Systems.
"(The) test allowed us to challenge the EKV in a series of realistic
outer-space environments, which gives us a broad range of data prior to moving
toward an intercept scenario."

Raytheon officials said the EKV performed as planned,
maneuvering the interceptor to the appropriate altitude and closing velocity
required for an intercept. The EKV has eight successful intercepts throughout
its program life.

GMD is the United States' only defense against long-range
ballistic missile threats. Boeing stopped flight tests in early 2011 after a
guidance error caused a failed intercept in a December 2010 test.

"Returning to flight has been the top priority for the
GMD program. We have used industry and government's combined expertise to solve
a complex technical issue related to what the interceptor's EKV experiences in
space," said Norm Tew, Boeing vice president and GMD program director. "(The
flight test's) success is an important step toward our next goal of a
successful intercept test."

Working the Missile Defense Agency, GMD has interceptors
deployed at Vandenberg and Fort Greely, Alaska. Boeing is the GMD's prime
contractor with partners Northrop Grumman, Orbital Sciences Corp. and Raytheon.
Officials said a flight interceptor test for GMD is planned for later this
year.